Is Gold Rush Alaska Fake

Is Gold Rush Alaska Fake and Staged for the Show?

How much of Gold Rush Alaska Fake or being staged on the Discovery Channel? So far, the Show’s just starting off Season 8 with a whole lot more questions than answers. It’s no secret several Outdoor Reality Shows are scripted with fake scenes adding a little drama, but a modern day Gold Rush in Alaska? Certainly, there’s plenty of real-life drama on any large-scale gold mining operation they don’t need to add fake or made-up scenes for the Show, especially for Discovery Channels mega-hit Gold Rush Alaska. Right? Wrong! While the production crew might have had good intentions producing a “real” Reality Show in the first few Seasons, Season 8 Premiere 2 -Hour Episode shows too many flat out staged scenes to be ignored.

It was fun watching a bunch of dumb chits move to Alaska in the first few Seasons to strike it rich mining for gold. Most of the crew members didn’t have a clue how to mine for gold, but that’s what made this Reality Show Real (funny). Nowadays, (specifically starting with Season 8, Episode 801) it seems most of the cast members are becoming better actors than serious gold miners.

Let’s take a look at Gold Rush Season 8 Cast Members (Miracle on the Mountain) and see how much of the show was real and how many scenes was Gold Rush Alaska Fake or staged for the Show.

Gold Rush Season 8 Intro

The Gold Rush premiere episode starts with Parker Schnabel visiting his grandpa John Schnabel’s grave that recently passed away at the age of 96 years old. When it came to keeping both Parker and Gold Rush Show “Real,” Parker’s Grandpa “Always was the Real Deal.” He was my favorite character on the entire Show always giving great advice to Parker with a smile, even when He was not-so-happy with the young teenage gold miner.

Tony Beets and Family starts Gold Rush Alaska with another outrageous plan for Season 7. When Tony first joined the Reality Show full-time, He took a 70-year-old antique gold dredge and brought it back to life. Now, in Season 7, Beet’s found an even bigger rusty old gold dredge weighing 159 tons and wants to invest an entire season bringing another relic back from the Gold Rush Days.

Todd Hoffman and Crew make their Gold Rush Alaska Season 8 Debut driving in a convoy of trucks in the Mountains of Oregon. Todd’s first words are, “This year I’m taking the biggest gamble of my life.” Haven’t I heard that somewhere else before? Anyways, Todd, Jack, Dave Turin and the rest of the Hoffman crew decide to give-up on mining for gold in the Klondike where they mined over $3 million worth of gold last year. Instead, they chose the High Bar Mine in the Blue Mountains close to home in Oregon.

Hoffman’s New Gold Mining Operation in Oregon

Todd Hoffman miraculously just leased the High Bar Mine sitting on top a mountain 4000′ high that recently discovered a nearby water supply. The gold-rich fields have produced millions of dollars worth of gold dating back to the 1800’s, but never using a modern day dredge requiring lots of water. When the Hoffman Crew first arrive at the High Bar Mine, the drone footage shows four elaborate water stock ponds someone recently spent a small fortune to construct on top the hill. Todd then informs the crew he not only leased the mine for the Season, but he also rented the brand new $1 million dollar dredge sitting off in the distance.

Really Todd? You really wait until getting to the mine before telling the crew about the new dredge that might or might not even work? But wait, there’s more.

Andy Spinks, Freddy Dodge, Kevin Hiatt, Logan Pierce, Jack and Hunter Hoffman all do a great job acting like they don’t know a darn thing about the new dredge they’ll be operating in Season 8.

Todd claims they found 100-ounce gold nuggets in the area before, so he sets the season’s goal recovering 5000 ounces for this year. The entire Hoffman Crew looked genuinely shocked and was perhaps the only scene not staged in the opening IMO. Heck, they recovered over 3000 ounces of gold in the Klondike last year, so why couldn’t they almost double production this year in Oregon, even if the High Bar Mine is unproven ground for the crew?

Tony Beet’s Doubles Down on Gold Rush Season 7

Tony Beets begins Gold Rush Alaska in Season 8 with his Family Minnie, Monica, Kevin and Mike sitting around the kitchen table. Tony lays out the entire season with his plan to double their gold mining operation buying another 70-year-old antique dredge. Everyone needs to step-up this season including Monica giving the job running another wash plant finally with her own crew. She chooses an all-female gold mining crew that’s the first in the History of Klondike Gold Mining. The entire scene was about as real as it gets when it comes to Tony Beets being, well, Tony Beets.

With his kids squared away keeping his gold mining operation in business and making money, Tony gets busy figuring out how to get the abandoned antique dredge 150 miles down the Yukon River. One minute Beets is watching his quad being airlifted by a helicopter while he’s still talking to the camera crew on the ground. The next scene Tony’s inside the same helicopter with the Quad in tow. Oops, the scene probably wasn’t fake or staged, but how did Tony get into the helicopter “after” it already took off?

Parker Schnabel finds Girlfriend on Gold Rush Show

Parker Schnabel begins Gold Rush Alaska Season 7 when crew members Chris Doumitt and Rick Ness visit him to discuss the season’s game plan. Parker introduces his new girlfriend Ashley Youle, he met in Australia but never told his Best Friends. Ya, right. Ness simply says, “It appears you had a [pretty nice] winter.”

Ashley explains to Schnabel’s Best Friends how the new couple was instantly attracted to each other. She smiles at Parker with a rather interesting look on his face. He says, and I quote, “Ya, no I’m glad you made it” while staring directly at the ground. Maybe He was just a little camera shy being filmed with a girlfriend on TV for the first time? Perhaps, but Parker introducing Ashley to his entire crew first as his Sister was another awkward moment hard to ignore. Someone needs to wake that boy up!

Who is Ashley Youle and how did she hook-up with Parker Schnabel, the most eligible millionaire bachelor on the Gold Rush Alaska Show? Surprisingly, there’s not much information about Ashley Youle on the entire Internet. Not a single picture of Parker and Ashley on vacation together in Australia. In fact, the only pictures I found of Ashley is posted on a MySpace account. MySpace? No kidding. There’s nothing wrong with that, (maybe 10 years ago) but she looks “exactly the same” and still wearing a ski hat. You just can’t make this kind of stuff up, not even for an Outdoor Reality Show. On the other hand, maybe you can.

Best and Worst Scripted Gold Rush Alaska Fake Scenes in Season 7

My favorite Gold Rush Alaska fake scene (Oops moment) so far in Season 7 is the Hoffman crew doing the first gold clean-up of the year. A young female on the crew (I don’t know her name) is picking out larger gold nuggets from the sluice box before Jack separates the finer gold. When they weigh to gold total at the end of the episode it’s a measly 3.5 ounces for all their efforts. The only problem is, they forgot to include the gold nuggets shown being picked one minute prior. Whoops, now why would they forget to include the gold nuggets?

Perhaps the most unflattering, insult to our intelligence and flat-out Gold Rush Alaska fake scene on Episode Season 7 is again with the Hoffman Crew. The crew was attempting to start the brand new $1 million dredge for the first time. The worker responsible for this job “finally” discovers the owners placed locks on the main power-box and essentially shutting them down before they even start. Two workers working for the High Bar Mine Owners miraculously appear and insist they join the Hoffman Mining Crew or else they won’t take the locks off. Todd has no choice and hires the workers that have the keys to unlock the dredge in their possession.

Can you imagine showing up to a gold mining operation with your entire crew and something like that happened in real life?

Now, if that happened to Tony Beets, He’d take the dang keys out of their pocket and chase the two workers off the mountain before they even knew what hit them. Maybe the producers should’ve given that role to Tony instead?

I still love to watch the Gold Rush Alaska Show after all these years. It’s entertaining even knowing they seem to be getting farther away from Real Outdoor Reality TV.

A Merry-Go-Round show that’s a load of garbage grown weak with the repetition of what made the show good early on, but more so Todd’s on Facebook traipsing around the country to places like Vegas and New York doing PR stunts that I can only guess… And always throwing around those big million dollar figures like ok I’ve heard it twenty times in the last 4 minutes, hey… I GET IT!!! I don’t know, maybe it’s just lost its lustre but it sure seems to me… Either Todd doesn’t learn from his mistakes (it’s really hard to swallow, them going down the same road in Oregon as they did in Guyana). But then, he comes off with “if we don’t get 50 ounces this week I’m shutting her DOWN!” and says so in a voice that sounds so sure… I figured give it a week, he shuts it down… But does he? No! They don’t get their 50 ounces and rather than him growing a set and standing up for himself, packing up his shit and leaving for better ground what does he do? Have a meeting… With his crew (wait for the hat-banging moment), to tell them he wants them to “work without pay” for an entire two weeks… What comes next is just more of what we’ve seen before… Come on Todd, you should have spent your winter in the north finding a new lease! Where there’s proven gold! A Merry-Go-Round show. I’d guess it’s a dud for Todd and crew this season, which will inevitably be followed up by much sulking and thumb sucking, then a year… And two later they’ll hit it decent again, not real good and big but decent and always looking for that golden egg laying goose. Tell you what Todd, they done cooked the dumb goose! They ate that thing, too. It’s gone.

Everyone acts like Parker is some “special” kid. Such BS, he was basically given a turnkey gold mining operation, what equipment he didn’t have it was made available, he was given land to mine that already proven to have gold. Compare that the Hoffman operation in season 1, now I’m no fan of them I’m just using them as a comparison. They show up with a little rinky dink sluice, no equipment to speak of, no experience. While Parker had it all given to him, it’s not like he took nothing and built it into something, if was given to him. He’s just a spoiled, smart ass kid and it shows on TV. Someone needs to smack his smart mouth! I hope one day Rick does just that!

If it wasn’t for the drama, and lies that show would have dried up long ago. I’m pulling an ounce per 10 yards on my claims, and Toad thinks an ounce per 100yrd is good? he has no idea what he’s doing, he’s a lousy leader, lazy, and is only concerned with putting money in his own pocket. He cry’s he’s not making any money but shows up each season with a new truck. And this season pulled up in a 150K Motor Home, and he wants the hired help to work for free which is illegal and shows his greed. I’m not religious like he claims to be, and I even know you don’t pray for your own personal gain, he’s phony. ”Down on his Luck” was his first lie. He lives on a private air port his Dad Goat Face owns. Look it up, Goat Face is a slum lord, nothing more. And then it gets really good. Their not mining in Alaska because the Bureau of Mines ran him out of Alaska, they changed their mining laws because of Toad. He didn’t want to follow the law and left. Then he got ran out of the Yukon because no one will work with him anymore. Why do you think he went to Oregon. If he has to work for it, he doesn’t want it.

I worked in the mining business for years this is so damn phony it’s pathetic. Discovery channel has reached an all-time low. Back in 2004 this channel Rocked, Deadliest Catch Dirty Jobs and Mythbusters for Christ’s sake go back to it.

I watch the show with my brother and seeing the Hoffman`s fail to the point where everyone walks off ,you might think this was the end off the Hoffman crew. l told my brother l thought the show was scripted and that something at the last second would save the season. What a shock! when their old buddy shows up with promises of gold in Colorado. Gee, just when you thought it was over for the Hoffman`s. l saw that coming. Also l`m sick of all the praying the Hoffman`s do,sure doesn`t seem to work for them. maybe God doesn`t like them.

Haven’t watched this show but I know Ashley Youle is real I used to work with her in Australia. Amazing girl, she is the real deal. She made him a picture holiday book of their holiday together in Australia, full of pictures of them together. She’s not plastered all over the Internet because she’s not that kind of girl! She is real and not looking for fame and or a free meal ticket. Only love and respect for her

I ❤️ love this show Parker is my favorite and I soooo miss his grandfather I cried like a baby when that wonderful kind loving man passed away I miss him and his words of wisdom he New the Bible and loved the lord for sure ❤

Gold rush messed up promoting Parker’s new “girlfriend” Ashley! Going to lose alot of fem fans who are crushing on the young reality star. I’m 50 and am disappointed, I would rather see the young man who has shown such dedication to his granpa’s legacy..rather than him getting sidetracked by a female. Sorry folks! But Parker is the show!!! There’s time for girls later…leave them off the show!!!

You have no clue what is happening at these locations unless you are there. You watch 42 minutes out of a week’s worth of footage. Stop all the conspiracy theories. 1. Parker has a girlfriend. Good for him and good for Ashley. Just because they don’t post everything to social media doesn’t mean it was fake. And maybe they do flood their own social media pages with all pics and fun times. There is a privacy settings so creepers can’t see them. Food for thought. 2. The Hoffmans are religious. Don’t hate. 3. The Hoffmans make a lot of bad decisions based on gold fever. See the Guyana experiment. I always thought “why leave the Klondike with known gold and success for unknown ground based on another’s point of view.” I.E. Oregon. I guess being closer to home was part of it. 4. If you don’t like the show, stop watching. If you can’t stand that it might be fake, stop watching. There are hundred of other channels so its your choice to watch. 5. If you think gold mining in the klondike is easy, give your head a shake. It’s expensive, dangerous and you are in the middle of nowhere with heavy equipment that can break down. Like they say, they are parts off the shelf issues. They wouldn’t stage/fake that kind of stuff. 6. Just STOP THE HATE. If you don’t have anything nice to say, be quiet. Dont be afraid to look at things from another point of view.

I don’t think the show is fake. Sure they organize situations like the gold weigh-ins to make it better for viewing but their issues are real. Breakdowns are real. Injuries are real. Struggles are real. The GOLD is real 🙂

Note: my comments are my own and are based on the article as well as some of the comments.

Of course a lot of it is scripted, has been from day one, all “reality” shows are. that is how they make the money. couldn’t really care less for any of the crews though. parker is spoiled and was handed a turn key operation in the beginning, yet he has managed to go out on his own, close down the original mine and prove himself in the Yukon. The Hoffman’s are a joke and have been from day one. Maybe, just Maybe if Todd was to do some actual work they would get somewhere but I highly doubt it. he simply has gold fever and cant get rid of it. they spent 4.5 months and got jack shit in Oregon, then they go to Colorado and in 1.5 months got over 800 oz., yet this isn’t good enough so even though he cant run one mine consistently he opens a second and hints at the opening of a 3rd for next season. tony is ok, his kids do all the work and make all the money but hey I guess most will just assume he gives it to his kids when he is ready just like parker did.

In the first or second episode of Alaska Gold Rush, Todd says while driving up the Alaska Highway “this is the worst highway in the United States”. They are in B.C. And most of the road is in Canada. Really, the whole program stinks. This is coming from an ex miner of 50 years experience in both placer and hard rock.